Widowed, waiting and forgotten: Tanzanian woman in Kenya yet to hear of foreign spouse ID drive
Naomi Mkimbo, a Tanzanian widow at her business stall in Taveta market on November 7, 2024. She says she has not heard of the government’s plan to document foreign spouses for Kenyan IDs.
What you need to know:
- Naomi Mkimbo, a Tanzanian-born widow living in Taita Taveta, is struggling to access her late Kenyan husband’s pension due to lack of Kenyan citizenship.
- Despite being married since 2006 and meeting the legal requirements for citizenship by marriage, her application remains pending.
- She hopes official documentation efforts will finally grant her recognition and help rebuild her life and support her four children.
Naomi Mkimbo did not have a Tanzanian passport when I interviewed her at her matrimonial home in Taita Taveta County last year. A Tanzanian by birth, she was married in 2006 to a Kenyan primary school headteacher.
He died in 2018, leaving her with four children to raise. Before his death, he had set up a small shop for her at their home in Maweni village, deep in Taveta sub-county, enabling her to earn a livelihood.
But as soon as he was laid to rest, Naomi’s world began to crumble. A spate of thefts swept through the shop, stripping it of goods until there was nothing left to sell.
With bills piling up and no income, Naomi began buying mangoes on credit, hoping to clear her debts from the sales at Taveta market. Yet with irregular earnings and children in school, she now desperately needs her late husband’s pension to cover expenses and expand her small fresh produce business.
“I had reached the end,” she recalls.
“The chief advised me to get a passport, so I went back to Tanzania, applied for one, and now I have it. He also told me to register for a Kenya Revenue Authority PIN to prove my belonging to Kenya, and I did.”
Naomi says she later submitted her application for the pension to the Teachers Service Commission using these documents.
“I was told to wait while the application is being processed, and I am hanging on to hope that it will be approved,” she says.
“I desperately need the pension to rebuild my life and that of my children.”
Although the national government administration announced in July that foreign spouses would be documented for registration for identity cards, Naomi has not heard about this initiative.
Asked about the progress and the low awareness, Taita Taveta County Commissioner Josephine Onunga said: “We are doing sensitisation in every baraza as we put in place a multi-agency team that will ensure all eligible Kenyans get ID cards.”
She added: “I will ensure the Fourth Estate is involved to help with dissemination and updates once we begin.”
According to Article 15 of the Constitution and Section 11 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act (2011), Naomi is eligible for citizenship by marriage, which allows a foreign spouse to apply after legally residing in Kenya for seven years.
To obtain an identity card, individuals must first hold a certificate of registration as a Kenyan citizen, issued by the Department for Immigration and Citizen Services.
For citizenship through marriage, applicants must provide a copy of their marriage certificate, a certificate of good conduct, a joint sworn affidavit, a dependant’s pass or permit, the applicant’s passport, and the Kenyan spouse’s passport.
